Optical control of GaAsSb/InGaAs staggered resonant tunnelling barrier structures grown by MBE

A GaAsSb (8.50 nm)/InGaAs (4.40 nm)/InAlAs (5.27 nm) staggered resonant tunnelling barrier structure, lattice-matched to InP, has been grown by MBE and a strong illumination effect on its current-voltage characteristics has been observed at room temperature. The peak current density increased by 40% and the peak voltage shifted by -75 mV at an excitation power density of 30 W cm-2. The authors attributed these effects to the holes accumulated in the GaAsSb layer which acts as a deep quantum well trapping the holes.